Sunday, February 22, 2009

Since our last game over a year has passed. Brijit Dannerwood convinced the Nordsk boat crew to sail for Eilf to return the broken Elessar and the body of his brother, Ereinion, to their family. The family was greatful and the boat crew was well rewarded for their service.

Originally Brigit thought she’d have the boatmen drop her off in Morgond as they made their way back to Nordland, but instead the Luinwe invited her to stay and she did. Ellessar’s recover was long and difficult and despite the best efforts of the healers he remains mute. When he was healed enough they decided to go adventuring again and would head to Dwarvia in search of their Dwarf friends Ivan and Torte.

There was much activity upon their arrival in Sykl – apparently a large Orc War Party was ravaging the lands to the North and East and a force was being raised to meet it in battle. Brijit and Ellesar joined the forces heading out to meet the orcs, since it was sort of on their way anyway…

The Force met up with a larger contingent of Dwarves from the fortress of Harra-Dûr that were also marching to meet the Orcs. The two armies met in the foothills between East Nordland and Dwarvia.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Has anybody else considered using Hordes of the Things (or other tabletop rules) to resolve mass combat on the tabletop in their role-playing campaigns?

Since I first started playing role-playing games I always thought it would be awesome to have characters rise to a station where they could command full units or armies in battle. Around 1985/86 I bought AD&D Battlesystem when I first saw it. I don’t think I ever convinced anyone to ever play it with me. I certainly never got any D&D characters to lead armies…

We did play a lot of Mech Warrior/Battletech in High School – might have had characters leading lances (platoons/troops of 4 mechs), but that’s not QUITE the same. Maybe if we had gotten to playing Battleforce… or I think there was a strategic level game where you could play out planetary invasions.

Always wanted to track down a copy of Sriker for Traveller so mercenary characters could play out some tabletop actions, but never could… I did pick up Invasion Earth with some megalomaniac dream of characters being involved in that…

For a while I played Warhammer Fantasy Role-play with the hope that characters might lead Warhammer units. During a few brief (…or not-so-brief) moments I even imagined characters becoming heads of state or otherwise being somehow involved in a Mighty Empires Campaign (BWA-HA-HA-Ha-Ha-ha-ha-ha… heh… yeah…)

None of these ever really got off the ground.

I’ve been playing Savage Worlds for a couple years now and it’s great for small unit actions – I’ve had characters leading small units in skirmishes. But I still dream of having characters involved in MASSIVE battles. There is a system in the core book for working out the results of a massive battle, but I’m a miniature gamer at heart, I’ve got the toys, so I want to work out the battles on the tabletop.

One system that looked like it had some hope (and still does) isWarmaster Ancients and it’s variants (Cold War Commander, etc). Commanders order units around and have a command value between 6 and 10, which correlates nicely with the Savage Worlds skill “Knowledge: Battle” (d4 = CV6, d6 = CV7, etc – one could even say an unskilled leader could have a CV of 5, but that would be disastrous – as it should be!).

I have recently fallen in love again with Hordes of the Things - a brilliantly simple, fast-playing tabletop fantasy miniature war game. As I have also been running a Savage Worlds fantasy campaign I have been giving some thought as to how Savage Worlds Characters might influence Hordes of the Things battles (you know for when they become king of a civilized land by their own hand… been reading some Conan too…). Mostly I have looked to the Mass Battle system right out of the Savage Worlds core book.

For those not familiar HOTT is played in alternate bounds, each turn being approximately 15 minutes. Each army (or command within a “Big Battle” army) has a general that rolls a PIP (Player Initiative Points) each die turn to determine how much he can maneuver his army. The army or command is generally made up of 9-12 stands that represent units of up to a couple hundred fighting men (and/or women… and/or critters…). When a stand fights another stand (possible aided by others) each side rolls a single six sided die, tactical factors are added, results are compared and the losing side is either pushed back, flees or is destroyed – depending what the different troops types involved and whether the result simple beat or doubled their opponents roll.

So if a character was commanding an army (or sub-unit/command) they should somehow be able to influence the PIP roll. I decided they should make a Knowledge: Battle roll each turn before the PIP roll. This could be a Group Roll – if there were multiple characters acting as advisors or a council of war.

If the General’s stand is involved in direct combat the Character will also affect the combat results as below…

Other characters (and the General) leading, or simply accompanying stands should also be able to affect the combat results of the unit they are with. So on any turn that the stands they are accompanying are involved in combat (whether in close combat, shooting or being shot at!?) they should make some sort of appropriate skill roll (fighting for blades, spears, warband, etc, Shooting for shooters, maybe stealth for sneakers, etc).

This is NOT a group roll – if multiple characters are accompanying the same unit/stand the results of their skill roll are cumulative to a min/max of -2/+2 tactical factors.

BUST- the character takes 4d6 damage and if leading the unit the unit suffers a -2 tactical factorFAILURE - the character takes 3d6 damage and if leading the unit the unit suffers a -1 tactical factorSUCCESS – No damage, no bonusONE RAISE - If the character is leading the unit, the unit receives a +1 tactical factor, no other result otherwise.TWO RAISES - If the character is leading the unit, the unit receives a +2 tactical factor. If the character is simply accompanying the unit his heroism inspires the unit and they receive +1 tactical factor(More than two raises won’t add anymore to the PIP die)

Combat Results – if the unit/stand a character is accompanying recoils in combat or is destroyed they must make an immediate skill roll (no modifiers if recoiling, -4 if destroyed)BUST – 4d6 damage and captured by the enemy!FAILURE – 3d6 damage – make a second skill roll with all appropriate modifiers; success = escape, failure = captured!SUCCESS – 2d6 damageRAISE – no effect(More than two raises won’t add anymore to the PIP die)

Bennies – Bennies can be used on the skill roles and to soak any damage. They can not be used for PIP die rolls.

Other Modifiers

In the Savage Worlds Mass combat rules in the book characters get a bonus +1 for each rank above Novice (i.e. Seasoned = +1, Veteran = +2, etc). I suppose this could apply. I had kind of thought only the skill roll should apply – what does it matter what their rank is – if they’re veteran and they’ve only raised their Knowledge: Battle or Fighting to d6… serves them right…! But then I suppose it’s to represent in some way the sum total of their knowledge and experience because it wouldn’t JUST be Fighting or Knowledge: Battle that they are using….

Shaken and Wounds - I’m wondering if I should ignore shaken results and effects. In the tactical game you get to check for recovery every 6 seconds… HOTT turns are ~15minutes… maybe one could burn a benny to remove it, or try to recover on their next bound. If they fail they are -1 to all skills for that turn, then automatically recover at the end of that bound (assuming they aren’t shaken again…?). Penalties for wounds sustained should affect the characters trait rolls as per normal – hard to make those snap decisions when your bleeding from your head…

Darkness, etc…? Meh… I guess any situational modifiers could be left to the GM. I can’t think of any others I’d really use.

I might tinker with this yet… I think in the GURPS mass combat rules there combat results and survival were separate rolls and giving yourself a bonus to one affected the other – i.e. if you wanted to be rash/brave and throw yourself into the thick of it you would get a bonus to the combat results but an equal negative modifier to your survival roll or if you wanted to be cowardly you could take a negative modifier to your combat results, but were more likely to survive. I like the idea, but I also like the simple one roll above… we shall see.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Here is an account of last weeks game. This week we played Hordes of the Things instead (report on that HERE). Not sure what to do next.... guess we'll find out next week. Though Andrej and Lloyd probably won't be here, and the following week Darrin probably won't be here... Might be some one off skirmished... or more Hordes of the things...

Since the Last Post about the fantasy campaign, the character’s all found employment in the city of Sykl. They all signed on with a mercenary captain that was organizing an expedition to a long lost Dwarven stronghold on the west coast of Dwarvia.

After a long voyage by sea they arrived at a valley at the end of a Fjord. At the other end of the valley was where the stronghold was to be. They met up with an advance party that reported the stronghold was now occupied by a considerable number of orcs and goblins. The characters, along with some Elven rangers and dwarf warriors scouted up the valley then off into a spur valley to attempt to locate a “secret back entrance”.

During the scouting expedition the Dwarf warriors struck off on their own and made it clear they wanted nothing more to do with the rest of the group. They made no attempt to be stealthy and battled every goblin they came across. Perhaps they thought they would take back the stronghold for themselves…?

The characters and the Elves managed to locate the back door and then headed back down the valley to report it’s discovery to their employer who had remained with the boats at the base camp.

Upon returning they found all but one of the boats had left. The captains had gotten cold feet when they found the stronghold occupied. They had apparently been lead to believe it would be as simple as walking in and carting out barrels of gold, jewels and armour…

The remaining boat crew also wanted to go home but thought they’d wait until the characters and elves returned. Upon their return a great argument broke out as to whether to stay or not… most of the boats crew wanting to sail at first light…

SITUATION

The characters and other remaining members of the expedition have been arguing about whether to stay and try and recoup some of their expenses in plunder from a few quick raids into the stronghold or just cut their losses and go at first light. Sven, the leader of the expedition wants to stay, the boats’ crew want to go. Sven is so adamant about staying that he eventually insists he will stay on alone if they go…

Before dawn arrives, however, a war party of orcs and goblins does!

SCENARIO

The Characters and expedition members start in the remains of the camp. The boat crew immediately head to their boat and make preparations to leave.

Each turn they will check to see if the boat is ready to go (roll d20 - if the roll is LESS THAN the turn number the boat is ready to leave).

When it is ready to go the characters will have to decide if they want to stay with Sven and fight their way through an army of orcs in hopes that there is some treasure still in the deepest vaults of the dwarven stronghold and then make their way overland with said loot through the near impenetrable mountains of West Dwarvia…. or get out of there with the boat. The boat will only wait for five turns once they are ready…

The orcs and goblins must, obviously, be kept away from the boat. For each turn that there are goblins or orcs in contact with the boat add +1 to the d20 roll to see if it’s ready to go (as the crew are busy having to fight off goblins instead of get the boat ready…).

The Baddies surge towards the clearing with Wolves in the lead!! GRRAAAARRR!!

From the get-go Amanda complained that they were totally EFFed. I ddin’t think they were so bad off. Sure they were wildly outnumbered, but they DID have seven pretty bad-ass wildcards…

In the first turn Elessar fried two wolves with a bolt spell, his brother deaded antoher with a shot from his bow, Brijit took down a fourth one with TWENTY THREE DAMAGE!? The Rangers twook down another two, and shook another… Looking good so far..

The Battle line… on the extreme left of the picture you can see Ivan charging forward… only seconds before Lloyd had been chattering about the awesome shieldwall in the movie 300… Then his card came up and he charged forward….?! HUH?!

At the the beginning of the second turn the rangers took down the last two wolves and Darrin cooked two goblins with bolts….

Then the Goblin archers got out into the open and rained arrows down on the big tall guy dressed in white that was throwing lightening bolts all over… one of them got lucky… REALLY LUCKY – like 30 damage lucky!!? Darrin soaked one wound, leaving him with FIVE!?!?

And that’s kind of where it went all downhill for our heroes. Ereinion, Elessar’s brother and leader of the Rangers immediately stopped killing one orc per turn with an arrow through the eye and tried to drag his brother to the boat… (damn those players that actually PLAY the “loyal” hindrance!)

Brijit “We’re All Going To DIE” Dannerwood killed another goblin with an arrow through the brain… This seems all too familiar… In a previous campign Amanda played an Elf Ranger that killed everything she shot at – even people that she wanted to capture and only intended to injure… (except that this Halfling only has a d6 in shooting!?)

Ivan “Damn the Shildwall I’m Going Out to MEET Them!” McGregor is duely surrounded and beaten to a pulp. I’d be nice to say he sold himself dearly… but I don’t think he got a single blow in… So much for “Dwarven Superiority”.

Everybody in the thick of it.

Hmmmmm… there IS a few of them there.

I think it was turn five that the boatmen were ready. Brijit had already started falling back towards the boat, as had Torte. He was caught, took 3 wounds, recovered from being shaken he was within his move of the boat and getting away… he just had to get away from the four orcs in contact with him… one of them hit as he tried to leave combat and shook him.

MacGregor goes down.

Yeah… I totally didn’t mean to kill the whole party. This is startlingly similar to how our last Fantasy campaign ended – everyone died except Amanda’s character – the difference being I was trying to END that campaign. This has even happened before in THIS campaign (HERE). That little Halfling really is a “doom monger”…

In the end the only ones to escape with the boat were the Halfling and Snorri Gustavson, Sven’s lieutenant.

THE AFTERMATH

Brijt Dannerwood begged the crew of the ship to go back after dark and see if there were any survivors. Elessar, Torte, and Ivan were all found to be alive, though just barely, and completely stripped of their possessions. The wounds had lasting effects. Torte lost an eye – thus gaining the “One Eye” hindrance. Ivan back and legs were messed up, he gains the “lame” hindrance. The arrow through Elessar neck has left him more or less “Mute” in addition to obvious problems with telling people stuff and a further charisma penalty… I’m going to give him a -2 or -4 to spellcasting due to his inability to use incantations…

Abby always wanted to be a starship pilot. Indeed her greatest dream was to attend the Imperial Star Fleet Academy and pilot one of the big Imperial Cruisers she occasionally saw patrolling the fringes of Imperial space where she grew up.

Abby has spent most of her life aboard space ships. Her father was a pilot on a number of tramp starfreighters that plied the fringes of imperial space. He tried to save money to eventually send her to a school in the core sectors where she might get the education required to write and pass the star fleet academy entrance exams.

Unfortunately the captains he flew for weren’t always particular about what they carried and for whom. In one deal that went south Abby’s father was killed in a gunfight tha ensued and all their money was stolen. Her dreams of the Imperial Academy were crushed in one short, violent moment.

She was 14 at the time and already a pretty good pilot. She found work with some of the same captains her father had worked for. When one of her fathers friends and formaer ship mate, Bert Jackson, acquired a ship of his own she jumped at the opportunity to fly for him.

“Doc” Redman grew up in a middle class family in the imperial core. He always dreamed of being a doctor… or at least living the life of luxury some of his friends, whose parent were doctors, did. He was a bit of a slacker though and at the end of his public school years he didn’t have anything close to the grades required to get into med school.

He went to a technical school instead and trained to be a practical nursing assistant/medical technician. He thought maybe a few years of real world experience would set him right and he could try and upgrade and get into Med school later. After a few years of working in psychiatric and trauma wards he found he could make plenty enough money by stealing from hospitals and selling stuff on the black market.

He eventually developed a drug habit and started getting careless and was eventually caught. He did a few years of hard labour on at a penal colony. Upon his release he found himself far from home, disowned by his family, and stripped of any licenses and credentials he had had that could get him any work at any real medical facility… What was he to do!?

He found pretty quickly that it was pretty easy to find work as a ships medical technician on ship’s that weren’t too particular about licenses and credentials out here at the ass end of space and eventually found his way to the Muttonchop Express which he now calls home.

He was the son of a whore who lived on one of the more centralized planets on the fringes of imperial space. It had a large star port and saw plenty of traffic and trade and his mother was never short of business with all the ships coming and going…

A number of her regulars took a liking to Albert – perhaps they thought they could have been his father – indeed any of them perhaps could have been. They often brought along gifts for him when they came to visit his mother and one even offered him his first job on a starship when he was 13.

For years and years he drifted from ship to ship, doing a bit of this and a bit of that – always trying to sock away some money to buy a ship of his own.

After many, many years of saving (and a couple of very lucky nights with the cards) he finally saved enough for a down payment on a ship of his own… the balance was financed by a local crime lord – Bubba the Gut.

Bert worked hard taking any kind of job he thought might pay off big. He even had to do a number of rather unsavory jobs for his financier. He ahs very nearly paid off his debt. With his cut of the Saturnalia VI job he should be free and clear of his debt to “the Gut”.

Anton doesn’t talk too much about his youth either. It’s mostly because he doesn’t remember any of it. In fast he doesn’t remember a damn thing beyond a year or two ago.

One morning he woke up in a sleazy starport hotel with nothing but the clothes on his back, and ID card that claimed hw was Anton Wilson, a pistol, and a ticket to board a freighter/passenger liner bound for the fringes of imperial space.

En route the ship had troubles. There was an explosion and both the ships engineers were severely injured. Anton stepped in and repaired the stardrive and saved everyone aboard.

With the captains glowing recommendation he was able to get himself work on a tramp freighter. That job lead to work on others and eventually to the Muttonchop Express.

“tubby” McDuff is a fat, ignorant, hick from a backwater farming world. He never did now schoolin’, or much learnin’ of any sort. He didn’t even help much on his parents farm. Probably ate more food than he ever had a hand in producin’. Instead he whiled away his days and years shootin’ swamp rats and hanging out with the other tough, thuggish farmers kids in the local excuse for a “town”.

He ran away aat the first opportunity. He thought he was being recruited for the Imperial Marines. By the time he got dirtside on another world he realized he had been shanghaied and impressed into a sleazy fly-by-night mercenary outfit. He was given and assault rifle and thrown into a war on a distant world he knew nothing about.

It was a slaughter.

Tubby only survived because he abandoned his comrades in arms and ran away at the first available opportunity. He surrendered to Imperial troops and gladly told them all he could about the unit he was with – which wasn’t very much. For his eagerness to aid them he only spent a year in an Imperial Detention facility.

Upon his release he was able to talk himself into a number of gun-for-hire type jobs with a load of BS about his illustrious career as an elite mercenary. Most engagements didn’t last very long as his complete and utter incompetence became pretty apparent, pretty quickly…

Captain Jackson took him on recently. He saw straight through his BS, but took him on anyway. Maybe he saw a bit of himself in the youngster and took pity on him. Or maybe he appreciated his lack of smarts and related ability to not think things through too much and just shoot what he was told to shoot and otherwise stay out of the way.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

This is the first of a series of Savage Worlds Sci-fi tabletop skirmish adventures. The players are the crew of the Muttonchop Express. They are smugglers, pirates, occasional mercenary-thugs and general n’er-do-wells adventuring across the galaxy - outside the law on the fringes of imperial space - constantly on the run for the Star Patrol, dirty bounty hunters and occasionally the Imperial Space Marines...

The Players only knew that they had to get the shipment to the Syndicate and get the money – they are NOT to screw over the syndicate and NOT to return with the drugs… (or without the CASH!!) They didn’t know the exact specifics of win/loss, victory conditions, etc for the scenario…

Saturnalia Vi, 8943-234

SITUATION

The crew of the Muttonchop Express are delivering a load of Plutonium Nyborg to a Syndicate on Saturnalia VI. … This is a big job for the Captain Albert Jackson of the Muttonchop Express. If everything went down okay he would be able to pay off Bubba the Gut and the ship would be all his – which would mean more freedom to choose they jobs they pulled and a bigger cut of the haul for him and his crew…

Unfortunately the Captain and a number of the crew came down with Space Flu just after landing and were unconscious by the time the G-sled was loaded up – it would be up to his trusty Pilot and Engineer – along with a couple extra hired thugs brought along for this job – to make it to the rendezvous and make the exchange.

Unknown to them Lt. Jack Prescott of the Star Patrol’s Vice Squad has arrived just before them with a tactical team hoping to make the biggest bust of his career…

SCENARIO

The crew of the Muttonchop Express must make a Spirit roll to avoid the temptation to sample a bit of the plutonium nyborg. Anyone that does give in to temptation gains the quick edge and is +6 to all rolls to interrupt and charisma, but is -4 to pretty much all skills and trait rolls that would require higher thought or perception (because their perception is “like totally fucked”).

To win the Muttonchop Express Crew/Drug Syndicate must make their exchange. The drugs must be transferred from the Muttonchop Express sled to the Syndicates van and the money case must be handed over.

If there are no Muttonchop Express crew in base contact with the Syndicate member with the money case once the transfer is complete the Syndicate will attempt to leave with the drugs AND the money.

The Star Patrol must try and prevent the deal from taking place, confiscate the money and drugs, and kill or capture the crew of the Muttonchop Express and the Drug Syndicate members, all while minimizing their own losses.

Luckily no one decided to sample the Plutonium Nyborg and thus had their wits about them…

Abby Aces the ships pilot along with the ships engineer, Anton Wilson, and three “expendable” thugs they hired on for this job glided into the abandoned village in the middle of a desert on Saturnalia IV. They were half finished unloading the goods when one of the syndicate guards on the rooftop yelled: “Shit! It’s da COPS!”

The Commander of the Star Patrol Tactical Team called out to the criminals in the village “This is Lt. Prescott of the Star Patrol Vice Detachment! We have you surrounded! Lay down your arms slowly and step away from them with your hands raised!”

…and that’s where I dealt out the cards…

TURN ONE

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

Almost everyone went on hold as DARRIN, Abby and the hired thugs desperately tried to finish loading the drugs onto the Syndicates truck! I made the Syndicate teams do spirit checks to resist the urge to start shooting… The cops would not shoot first… at least not on the first turn…

Syndicate team 3 failed and the village erupted in a sudden flurry of violence – everyone trying to interrupt each other.. When the smoke cleared one Star Patrol Tac Team member was down, as was one of the Syndicate Gunmen.

TURN TWO

DARRIN, having moved a crate into the truck, didn’t want to go back to the sled. He wanted to stay close to the money, so to be useful he shot at some Space Patrol tac team members and tagged one! (We won’t mention that he was already shaken…. A K.O. is a K.O.!!)

Abby loaded another crate. Two of the hired thugs helped load another while the other took shots at Lt. Prescott.

Tac Team 1 moved up firing.

Tac Team 2 took down the sniper from one of the Syndicate Gunmen teams.

TURN THREE

Anton remained on hold in the truck awaiting the moment the last of the crates were loaded and Sistah Six handed over the cash.

Tac Team 3 moved up to the ruined building. As all the crates were loaded, Abby returned to the steering wheel of the G-Sled and took a shot at the Tac Team member poking his nose around the corner.

Tac Team 1 shot one of the Syndicate gunmen causing the rest of the gunmen in his team to fail morale! One of the Syndicate gunmen across the road, however took down a Tac Team 3 member and the remaining two members failed morale as well!

TURN FOUR

The hired thug continued firing at the Tac team guys hiding around the corner of the ruined building while Abby and Anton sat on hold waiting for the cash.

Sistah Six’s card came up and she handed over the money! Anton came off hold and leapt on to the sled, then Abby came off hold and punched it… well… as much as one can “punch it” on a G-Sled. As they drove off Tac Team 3 let ‘em have it! (Lt. Prescott was still recovereing from being shaken in a previous turn). The thug with the shotgun was shaken, Anton took one wound (failed to soak!), and Abby was shaken but bennied it.

Amanda getting into the role borrowed my flight helmet to wear.

Tac Team 1 pulled a clever maneuver this turn, the fellow with the shot gun walked up and open the passenger side door to the truck (as an action) taking cover behind it, the two other remaining member s of the team then fired on the driver through the open door! He was hit once, but only shaken, and I think he recovered before the end of the turn…

TURN FIVE

Anton recovered but took no action. They drove off a bit further, accelerating as fast a s they could. Tac Team 3 shot two of the hired guns but totally missed Abby and Anton. Lt Prescott took a shot at Abby, missed, spent a benny and hit, but then only caused 3 damage… which doesn’t do much when you’ve got a toughness of 10 vs. bullets!?

The Syndicate team in the truck went on hold to wait and see if any of the other two teams could make it to the truck (jumping from the rooftops). The remaining member of one team made it, but the action got a bit to hot and Sistah six ordered the driver to go and leave the remaining ones behind.

They continued to shoot up the remains of Tac Teams 1 and 2…

TURN SIX

The Lieutenant and the Tac Team both got one last shot off before the g-Sled zoomed off the table. The Tac Team tried to shoot up the G-Sled – four hits, but no damage. Lt. Prescott tried for another shot at the driver, but missed… and that was it!

Conclusion

So the goods were exchanged, and most of the baddies got away…

The Space Patrol Tactical Teams suffered 6 Knocked out during the game. Of those one was a KIA, the other five were only lightly wounded.

The Syndicate have five taken out – all ended up being only light wounds, but they were all captured by the Space Patrol. Three others that were left behind were also captured.

The two hired guns were also lightly wounded and all made it back to the Muttonchop Express where they quickly loaded up and blasted off into space to get the heck out of the system as quick as they could!

Maybe next time I should bust out the wee starships and see if the Muttonchop Express can outrun a Space Patrol cruiser and successfully make the jump to hyperspace…?